Goan liquor units chip in to prevent coronavirus spread

Having a robust liquor manufacturing industry in the state is turned out to be blessing in disguise in coronavirus times, says Shoma Patnaik

The state’s Iiquor industry manufacturing range of
alcoholic beverages is playing a major role in alleviating the shortage of
sanitisers during these testing coronavirus times.

Sanitisers are crucial to prevent the spread of the
dreaded disease and liquor units who have received the go-ahead are using their
presently idling capacities to manufacture sanitisers.

In all six liquor
distilleries producing Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and three
pharmaceutical companies in the state have been granted special permission to
manufacture hand sanitisers by the Directorate of Food and Drug Administration
(FDA), Bambolim. With permissions given
to the nine units and two already existing manufacturers, Goa presently has 11
manufacturers of hand sanitisers.

The Ponda plant
of Diageo India, United Spirits, was one of the local IMFL distillers to
receive approval for manufacturing sanitisers.
“It is not easy for a liquor unit to make hand sanitisers as our
licenses are for IMFL while sanitisers need FDA licensing. Our company had to
take multiple permissions, viz from the FDA, the excise department and the
south Goa collector office. We now supply to government departments such as
deputy collector’s offices, directorate of transport, Goa Tourism, the Human
Resource and Development Corporation, fire stations, primary health centers,
among others,” said Huma Ali, unit head,
Ponda.

Ali says that,
the company supplies the sanitisers free.
“Daily we produce 1,000 litres in five litre containers. There is a huge
demand for sanitisers currently at the ESI Hospital, the river navigation
departments. We plan to keep supplying until needed,” added Ali.

Chief Strategy
and Corporate Affairs officer, Abanti Sankaranarayanan, added, “Five days ago
we didn’t know anything about producing hand sanitisers. But since March 27 we
produced the first batch at our units (including Goa) as part of pledge to
produce over three lakh bulk litres of sanitisers for public health care
workers at the frontline. We feel
privileged to support our country at this hour of crisis.”